Journal of Plant Process and Function

In this research the effects of organic and chemical fertilizers on morpho-physiological traits (plant height number of lateral stem, relative water content in leaf, fresh and dry matter of plant), essential oil content and composition of Dragonhead were investigated. This research was conducted in a randomized complete block design with 4 replications in 2019 and 2020. Treatments were: control (no fertilizer), cow manure, sheep manure, poultry manure, horse manure, vermicompost and NPK fertilizers (20-20-20). Shoot of plant samples before flowering stage at the end of vegetative stage (200-210 leaf) were prepared from treatments separately. The most weight of dry matter (11.9-14.7 g.plant-1) and essential oil content (1.1-1.05%) were observed in chemical fertilizer that was the same group with vermicompost and poultry manure. Geraniol, geranial and geranyl acetate which are classified as non cyclic monoterpene, made more than 70% of essential oil content in different treatments. There were 18 components in essential oil of treated plants. The greatest amount of major components were geraniol (31.2-34.2 %) in NPK fertilizer and vermicompost, geranial (26.7-27.3%) in NPK fertilizer; and geranyl acetate (28.7-25.9%) in vermicompost. In each of the two years of the experiment, it was observed that the most significant correlation indices were between essential oil content with linalool, limonen, geranial, geraniol, neryl acetate, and geranyl acetate. It seems that organic fertilizers increased the nutrient uptake and assimilation and consequently the amount and components of essential oil of the plant increased.